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Wednesday, 5 December 2012

5 more great Heinken Cup moments

Ellis the teen tearaway

28th April 2002

Tigers were rocking, Llanelli were 9-3 up and just before
half time had missed a simple chance to go more than a score ahead.We’d played them twice already and not
breached their line in either game; with the weather turning for the worse a 6
point lead was massive.A scrum penalty
to Tigers moved play to a lineout on halfway; the maul was scrappy but off the
side burst Graham Rowntree.His thrust
took us to the 22 where Freddie Tuilagi bumped off Stephen Jones and drew in
both Llanelli centres as well as half the pack.Referee Mark McHugh signalled advantage, the chance to close the gap to
9-6, as their 12 got up he gave the ref a plaintiff look but by then it had
happened.Ellis had spotted the gap, when 12 turned his
back he struck and burst through the hole, hurdling the pile of bodies.The full back had him covered, it was close
but he would haul him down before he got to the line, great attacking position
to roll the forwards over we thought.But no, Ellis went low and skidded across the turf made greasy with rain,
if anything the full back’s attentions gave him the momentum to cross the line.
Back in the game.

Tuilagi triumphs in Treviso.

9th October 2010.

Maybe not the best one for confidence ahead of our trip to
Treviso but this was a classic example of Tigers mental fortitude.It was the 77th minute and we were
staring down the barrel of losing away in Italy.I was sitting at home on the sofa watching
with my mates as we hadn’t bothered to go, too focused on organising our trip
to Perpignan and complacent having “done” Treviso the season before.It was not a happy camp.The air was blue with swear words that would
even make Cockerill blush. But we had
forgotten that Alex Tuilagi was not a man who took defeat lying down.He was not a man accustomed to losing face
and didn’t much fancy starting here.We
were deep in our own half, with not much time left but at least had the
ball.Twelvetrees gets it from a ruck
and flings it wide to Tom Croft standing on the 22.He shimmies forward beating a man before
passing to Hipkiss, a simple straightening of the line fixes his man and he gets
the ball to Tuilagi.With the snarl
turned up to 11 Tuilagi’s got the whole game in his hands on the half way
line.In my lounge we’re on our feet,
going mental.His man is in front of him
and the full back is covering in behind.He shapes to go left on the outside then powers off to his right towards
the posts.The defence evaporates and
he’s charging through for the winning try.Untouched.Unmolested.From their own 22 Tigers have stolen it at the death.Back in Leicester it’s more relief than joy.We certainly won’t be complacent this year.

What happened next Dawson?5th December 2004

Wasps were attacking our end.We’d been up 22-6, they’d got back to 25 all,
we’d been up 31-25, they’d got it back to 31 all and finally we were past 80
minutes and were up 37-31 thanks to an Andy Goode drop goal.The first 20 minutes had been immense we’d
scored three tries and blown them out of the water but they’d clawed it back;
Dallaglio was like the Terminator just when you thought you’d finally finished
him off he’d come back for more and they were back within sniffing difference
of the win.The ruck was on our left
wing about 5 meters out.It was slow
ball but not painfully so.The crowd
behind the posts was baying for Tiger blood, the knot of Tigers fans trying to
be the 16th man in the defence.Dawson was at the base organising his troops for a final push, pointing
here pointing there, shouting a lot.Demanding a penalty from the referee.Finally he went in for the ball, through the forest
of legs in the ruck.We’re behind the
posts and can hardly see a thing, just his head bobbing above the ruck.Then the whistle blows, he’s knocked it
on!In the forest of legs he’s got
caught on a branch.The Wasps fans are
distraught, us Tigers are in Raptures; not only have we won but it’s that pillock
Dawson who’s lost it for them!Happy
days in deed.

Even better, on TV the reverse angle showed something rather
different; it was Louis Deacon’s hand reaching through that knocked the ball
out of Dawson’s grasp and the ref missed it.

Powell’s red card in Cardiff

29th October 2006

Another classic Cardiff moment.We were sitting in the front row right in
front of this one.The scrum packed down
and White powered through their whole scrum to win the penalty.Tighthead Gary Powell was not a happy
bunny.Out of the blue his head just
jerked forward, planting a Glasgow Kiss right on George Chuter’s chin.I don’t know what he expected to happen
next.Though it’s fair to say it
probably wasn’t Julian White laughing in his face.It was a good belly laugh too, not a wry
chuckle, a wolf laugh.This game ended
with Louis Deacon knocking the ball out of the scrum halfs hands and getting
away with it too.You’d almost think it’s
a tactic!

Twelvetrees dream
debut, Staunton Saves the day

11th October 2009

This match really was remarkable.Billy Twelvetrees was called into the
starting line up just 10 minutes before kickoff to make his debut. Due to the
injuries we were suffering we named 7 forwards and Ben Youngs as the lone back
on the bench, Anthony Allen was another thrust in at the last moment to replace
Aaron Mauger and when he had to withdraw injured at half time we played the
second half with Craig Newby in the centres.After at one stage being 18 points down Tigers had fought back to be
only 7 in arrears as the clock counted down.Twelvetrees had the ball on the blindside about 25 meters out, he swept
past Paul James and inside James Hook, holding off Marty Holah and Shane
Williams to set up the ruck 5 meters out.Youngs’s liberal use of the boot eventually freed the ball and Ayerza
carried under the shadow of the posts.This
time quick ball and Youngs found Staunton, brought down by Andrew Bishop’s
tackle but not held he sprang to his feet and brushed off the challenge of Mike
Phillips to ground the ball.Draw
secured, try bonus point secured.